Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Modernity likes to hide the fact of our mortality away. But great thinkers of the past, largely from Stoic and Catholic traditions, recognized that the regular contemplation of death was a healthy exercise for both the individual soul and the wider community. Rituals and art embraced death as a symbol for the final end that all would meet, spurring on people to live better by its contemplation. This is the aim of Memento Mori.

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0:00 Intro – Why we don't talk about death anymore
0:18 Origins: the Roman triumph and the Stoics
3:32 Death in Western art: Danse Macabre to Vanitas
7:41 The Catholic Church and memento mori in worship
10:18 The Ars Moriendi: guides to dying well
11:39 The modern world's rejection of death
13:40 Why memento mori isn't about despair
15:05 Recovering the practice today